In 1971, around the frontman Kosuke ICHIHARA (sax, flute), LOVE LIVE LIFE were formed as a free-form rock project. Each member was one of the most famous and talented Japanese rock- or jazz-session musicians in those days - Toshiaki YOKOTA (flute, sax), Kimio MIZUTANI (guitar), Takao FUJII (guitar), Hiro YANAGIDA (piano, Hammond organ), Chito KAWACHI (drums), Naomi KAWAHARA (percussion), and Masaoki TERAKAWA (bass). They had a strong ambition to produce an intensively improvised rock album like of the British jazz rock scene, and for this purpose they needed a strong, and simultaneously flexible vocalist. Very luckily they could recruit Akira FUSE, one of the most famous Japanese pop-ballad singers, as 'PLUS ONE'. LOVE LIVE LIFE + ONE's one and only album 'Love Will Make A Better You' (1971) has eclectic flavor with psychedelic, avantgarde, jazz and rock essences, that can be appreciated much all over the world. Album is a perfect exemplar of the Japanese psych super-session scene. The most successful album by impresario Ikuzo Orita (responsible for Foodbrain and Shiniki Chen), the disc paired a nimble crew of improve freaks (like guitarist Kimio Mizutani) with mainstream pop star Akira Fuse and his band, along with a songbook by saxophonist Kei Ichihara. The resultant album is rich in Sly Stone-influenced funk and wild guitar solos from Mizutani and Takao Naoi. Though Fuse wasn't the only mainstream star to dabble in the avant-garde -- normally he covered the Carpenters and other lite American fare -- his star presence insured that the album never flew too far into self-indulgence. The disc's second side, in fact, contains four of the more superbly arranged tunes in the Japanese psych canon, containing sweet choruses, pumping post-McCartney bass, shredding guitar, and exhilarating breaks (especially the horns on the disc-closing "Facts About It All"). In under four and a half minutes, the album's title track is simultaneously hook-filled and sonically overwhelming, both freewheeling and utterly controlled. The nine-minute "Shadows of the Mind" is an ESL mini-epic rendered as orchestral free jazz that bursts into machine gun John Barry-isms. Even Mizutani and Naoi's guitar-offs are fit perfectly into the bigger tapestry (which, in turn, dissolves into strings before phase-shifting back into the verse). The focus is especially present on the disc's requisite 17-minute jam, the side one-filling "The Question Mark," which builds patiently from fuzz miasma to a shrieking pulse without ever showing its hand. Line-up / Musicians Kosuke Ichihara/sax,flute Toshiaki Yokota/flute,sax Kimio Mizutani/guitar Takao Fujii/guitar Hiro Yanagida/piano,organ Chito Kawachi/drums Naomi Kawahara/percussion Masaoki Terakawa/bass Akira Fuse/vocals Discography(Album)
Love Will Make A Better You 1971
1.The Question Mark 2.Runnin' Free 3.Love Will Make A Better You 4.Shadows Of The Mind 5.Facts About It All
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